10 albums you may not have but should... just cos I said so

I really have nothing to blog about.

I'm sorry.

But for my own enjoyment, and because I'm watching Rage at the moment, here are the top 10 albums that I think have had the most influence on me.

In no particular order:

1. Melissa Etheridge - Self titled
The rest of her albums are pretty much more of the same. But this one is special. There's a lot of anger and angst in the material and the result is both destructive and beautiful.

2. Ryan Adams - Love is Hell
If you listen to this and not feel a thing, then you don't have a soul. Turn the lights off, the volume up and go nuts.

3. Fiona Apple - When the pawn...
Besides holding the distinction of having the longest album title in known history (it's actually a whole poem), When the pawn..., to me, is a realisation of what she started with her first album, Tidal. Eclectic and fiercely original.

4. del Amitri - Change everything
Their self-description as 'esoteric pop' is wonderfully apt. Lots of songs about heartbreak, rain or both.

5. 10,000 maniacs - MTV unplugged
The best live album I've ever heard. By anyone. This was Natalie Merchant's last album before she went solo and became boring.

6. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
The odd album of the bunch. First time I heard it, I was appalled and loving it at the same time.

7. Oasis - What the story [morning glory]
I always marvel at how consistent this album is without ever sounding boring. To me, this is like a distillation of pure rock and roll.

8. Counting Crows - August and eveything after
This is probably the album that first got me hooked to the whole Americana music scene. Mr Jones is my favouritest song ever.

9. Jason Mraz - Waiting for my rocket to come
This didn't leave my CD stacker for a whole year. To me, he's the best vocalist and lyricist among the guitar pop crowd.

10. Ben Lee - Breathing tornadoes
This was the soundtrack of my uni years. It just stuck. And I'm not sure why.

3x7
__________

Signs my life is going good

1. I found new work.

2. I keep bumping into old high school friends. And I do mean ‘friends’. Not just people I went to school with who pretend to like me because we share a circumstantial bond.

3. I lose $80 and I’m not all that upset.

4. I go drinking and dancing and I have a great time despite it not being my own birthday party.

5. There are good TV shows and movies on again. Joan of Arcadia is the type of show I wish I had written. Garden State is a movie I wish I had written. I wish I had written a lot of things.

6. Buffy DVDs are ridiculously cheap.

7. The Happy Cup girl is back.

__________

Things I found while I was cleaning out my desk at Science Press

1. Two packets of SunSilk shampoo samples.

2. An invite to a 21st birthday party. That person is now 25 going on 26.

3. Two empty cans of Slim Fast.

4. One half-full can of Slim fast.

5. Sixty-seven CDs.

6. An envelope full of slides that we should have sent back to the picture library three years ago.

7. Six or seven hand drawings of baboons in various poses.

__________

Things about my first day at my new job

1. My pass photo looks like one of those shots of Iraqi prisoners who claim that they haven’t been beaten up by their captors

2. The toilet smells like Fanta.

3. There’s a hell of a lot of women on my floor. Most of whom have sons.

4. Macintosh computers are stupid. A one-button mouse is even stupider.

5. I think I will like my job.

6. I bump into someone I know on the way back from lunch.

7. Easyway girls just don’t measure up to a Happy Cup girl.

Ciao Marrickville...

Me and Destiny Man were sitting down having a drink and talking about things like old friends do. Except he’s not an old friend. Just a figment of Myle’s imagination that has somehow filtered into mine. We’ve agreed that he does not look like a guy with spiky hair in a headband. But beyond that, there’s not much else to say.

‘So,’ he says. ‘Last day eh?’

No, it’s tomorrow.

‘I see.’

You’ll never guess who’s going to be replacing me once I’m gone.

‘Really now?’

Oh that’s right. I forgot. Of course you can.

It’s hard having a conversation with know-it-all. It’s even harder when he actually does know all. But the truth is, I never had this conversation. It’s made up. I don’t really have conversations with imaginary characters. I just use them as devices in my writing. To set a mood. A tone. Maybe just to make things a little more interesting. Because I’m a wanker.

So anyway, I was walking past my boss’ office yesterday, which at the time was closed because he was interviewing someone who had been suggested for my soon-to-be-replaced position by my work colleague.

So he calls me through the glass and I open the door to his office and he’s saying I believe you two know each other.

And in one of those ‘ohmigod’ moments, it turns out to be Matthew freakin’ Keany. An old high school pal. Bloody hell. What are the chances. And to top it of, his wife also happens to be a high school friend of the boss’ son’s wife.

Chance and coincidence? Or Destiny Man?

We started off in high school doing FRED, the school newspaper. We also both drew comics. He still draws now. I’ve now stopped. So now, eight years down the track, he’s taking over my spot.

He says ‘well you’ve been here five years – there’s gotta be something to that.’

And I say ‘well yes um er yeah.’